UN chief meets arab league secretary general

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has stressed the importance of maintaining close cooperation with the Arab League and expressed hope to deepen cooperation between the two sides in the coming years. According to a statement from his office, Ban said that he discussed with Arab League Secretary General Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi, during their meeting last night on the sidelines of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, the efforts made to relaunch effective negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel in order to achieve the two-state solution. The two sides also discussed the Palestinian application for membership in the United Nations as well as issues of mutual concern, including Libya, the peace process in the Middle East and the current situation in Syria, according to a report of Qatar News Agency (QNA).